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Person County – Hyco Lake Telecommunications Services
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Cell Phone Coverage is mostly non-existent in a high traffic area in the Hyco Lake area of Person County
•Broadband Internet Services unavailable in most areas
•Bell South/MebTel service area lacks even basic services
Hyco Lake Populous
•Approx. 1170 Homes on the lake
•Approx. 800 homes full time occupancy
•Populous swells to est. 5000-6000 in summertime
•Highest growth rate is in the Southern part of Person county
and Hyco Lake
•VIR Raceway bringing numerous high profile companies and
individuals to area - over 200,000 visitors each year.
•Industry expanding in area near Progress Energy including Certainteed,
Carolina Sunrock and RESCAR.
Hyco Lake population density approx 1000/sq. mile Hyco Lake Property Values Average home/land value est. $560,000 Average income of owners est. $150,000 + Home value range from $450,000 to 1.6 Mil Market value increases at Hyco outpacing all other areas of county and surrounding areas Considerable number of owners travel from adjacent counties on weekends to Hyco Average Household Income
Hyco Lake Utilities Sprint and Mebtel provide basic phone services No indicated plans for expansion by Embarq Minimum to non-existent cell phone coverage on most of Hyco Lake 3800 acres. Minimum TV cable system coverage Phone system reliability and service quality is very poor on the North side of the lake (Bell South/MebTel – Lynchburg, VA LATA) Present and Future Needs Homeowners require cell phone coverage for safety and basic needs – numerous homeowners travel from adjacent areas on weekends/vacation Business requires cell phone coverage for operations (Progress Energy, Certainteed, Pro-Ash, Fluor, Ameco others) Homeowners, especially telecommuters, need broadband internet service for work-at-home Homeowners desire to displace land lines with cell phones VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service is in demand by industry and homeowners. Advance phone features are needed such as conference calling which is not available in areas Economics of Expansion at Hyco Lake Consumers in the area will switch cell service to the vendor who supplies coverage in the Hyco area. On record are over 650 individual users that live or visit who have stated they are willing to switch to the cell carrier who serves Hyco Lake. Weekend/summer residents have indicated they will switch to the vendor supplying cell coverage in the area Broadband internet customers will increase significantly as more people telecommute due to higher fuel prices Industry demand for cell/broadband/VOIP coverage is increasing One cell tower would cover the entire lake area – landowners willing to locate and even fund construction of a cell site. Estimated potential customers in the coverage area is estimated to be 4000 – 5000 cell phones at present using 80% utilization of a populous of 6000 people in peak months. Expanding home and industry
building in the area will drive future sales aggressively Feedback from area Businesses and Owners in support of expanding. Local
businesses provide written response in support of cell tower - we have
on record letters from the following companies: Estimated Users Switching to Hyco Carrier Total potential cell phone users in the area not including 200,000 visitors to VIR = 5871. Estimated users willing to sign up with Hyco carrier = 3898. Person County is Pro-cell phone expansion Person County Government, Planning and Zoning along with the County Commissioners are advocates of improving cell phone coverage with necessary towers. Cingular had received approval of 5 new sites before the merger with AT&T. North Carolina General Assembly Representative in Support of Expansion Winkie Wilkins from Roxboro has gone on record as being an advocate for improving cell coverage in Person County. Representative Wilkins has recognized that the situation is both an economic concern and also safety concern for the thousands of users and visitors to Hyco Lake. Representative Wilkins believes that cell phone carriers should recognize the business impact of adding services to the Hyco area along with the short R.O.I. and will soon locate on Hyco Lake.
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